How Do You Connect with Others?

Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. - John C. Maxwell

John Maxwell’s 10th Law of Leadership (of his 21 Laws) says, “Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand”—known as the Law of Connection. A leader can’t connect with people only when he is communicating in groups; he must connect with individuals. I saw this law in action first hand this week when I served as a guest lecturer to a couple of classes at Baylor University.

For both classes, I arrived early and met a few of the students. From that initial interaction—and likely because they were interested—I could see their engagement throughout my presentations. However, those students would be unlikely to blindly follow my lead.

To get that kind of commitment, I would need to build stronger relationships…and be sure that my actions lined up with my words. For you see, the stronger the relationship and connection between individuals, the more likely the follower will want to help the leader.

Out of This World Leaders always initiate. They take the first step and make the effort to build relationships.

Click here to learn what the John Maxwell Bible says about the Law of Connection.

Building Trust

No matter your title, people will not follow you if they don’t trust you. Whether you are just taking over a team or working to implement large-scale change within one, you are guaranteed to run into resistance if you haven’t taken time to establish a foundation with the people you oversee before turning their worlds upside down. - John C. Maxwell

As noted in this week’s post, trust makes leadership possible. In it, we explored the story of Samson from the John Maxwell Leadership Bible and what Maxwell calls the Law of Solid Ground.

Author Ken Blanchard furthers Maxwell’s point in his article on “Building Trust”, providing many instructive insights for Out of This World Leaders.

First, it should be noted that 59% of individuals indicated they left an organization due to trust issues, citing lack of communication and dishonesty as key contributing factors.

Click here to learn strategies for building trust as a leader.